Developers are halting a three-state underground pipeline project that drew heavy opposition from residents and environmentalists in Kentucky and Ohio.

Williams Co. and Boardwalk Pipeline Partners said in a web posting Monday that they were not able to assemble a large enough customer base for the natural gas liquids that would be delivered by the proposed Bluegrass Pipeline. They suggested, however, that the project could be resurrected at a later date.

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"We continue to pursue support for the project, but we are exercising capital discipline and not investing additional capital at this time. In short, Bluegrass Pipeline appears to be a project that's ahead of its time," the web posting said.

The companies said they are no longer seeking to acquire land for the project and offices that housed land acquisition teams have been closed.

Planners intended to install 500 miles of new pipeline through West Virginia, southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky. Kentucky's portion would have traveled about 180 miles through more than a dozen counties to connect with an existing line in Breckinridge County.

But opposition to the proposal was swift and widespread in Kentucky and Ohio, coming from activists, residents near the planned route and even the Sisters of Loretto, a group of Catholic nuns in Marion County. Residents were upset over the pipeline backers' insistence that they would be able to use eminent domain laws to seize private land for the project.

The companies said in the web posting and an online Q&A that their decision was not based on local opposition or the eminent domain issue.

"Without firm agreements from customers, we could not justify continuing to spend capital on this project," it said. "If our discussions with customers lead to agreements to ship on the pipeline and it makes economic sense to pursue the project at a later date, we will."

Opponents of the project have staged rallies at the state capitol and pleaded for the governor to intervene, but a bill that would have blocked the company from using eminent domain failed in the General Assembly this year.